519
by Foxstar354emma
Summary: After a large nuclear war, a group of teens are trying to survive. Picking up a few new people along the way, they make a discovery that will change their lives forever...
1. Chapter 1

"Come on. Hide behind this rock." Said a girl in her late teens.

Her group of six filed in behind a large boulder. These were her best friends. The ginger-headed girl beside her was Shelby, and her boyfriend Harrison was on her other side. Next to him was a small, blonde headed boy whose name was Carter, and on the end was a Filipino girl named Frances. Snowball was the leader's white German Shepard Dog, her ears pulled back in fear. Lastly, the tall, brunette leader's name was Emma. She was trying her hardest to keep her friends alive after the large nuclear war that had destroyed almost everything. Now they were behind a rock, hiding from a group of Raiders.

"I don't think there's anything here." A gruff voice reported "Let's move out."

The footsteps of the Raiders faded as they moved on to find someone to steal from and terrorize. After about a minute of silence, Emma and her colleagues started walking again. Their walk was interrupted by a scream. The small group all flicked their fear filled eyes at one another. Skittishly, Emma checked her surroundings.

"Stay here in these bushes." The girl whispered "Shelby, you come with me. Bring your gun."

The two girls, quick and silent, ran to the noise. They pushed back a group of bare branches that opened up into a small clearing. In the hollow, a girl was screaming and an unarmed young man faced a huge, mutated bear-like figure.

"A Yao Guai." Emma gasped."We need to help help them!"

She turned to Shelby whose eyes were filled with fear and shock. Emma covered her friend's mouth as she tried to scream. Luckily the Yao Guai didn't hear them, but it did rear up ready to charge at the others on the opposite side of the expanse. Emma left Shelby in the bush as she ran towards the deformed bear, shooting at it with her rifle. The monstrous creature turned from the two people and charged towards Emma. She shot and wounded the Yao Guai multiple times as it ran, and she said a small silent prayer.

 _Lord, please don't let me die. And if I do die, please don't let_ _anyone else get hurt_.

The bear was only a few feet away when Shelby screamed. The Yao Guai stopped and growled again as Shelby started shooting and running _towards_ it. The bear swiped at the orange headed girl and knocked her to the ground, making her glasses fly into the air. The ferocious creature slowly walked up to the teenager laying in the grass, growling. Emma felt a mix of fear and protectiveness trickle through her veins.

 _Dear God, I know what I must do. I am so, so very sorry about what I'm doing._

She lifted up her rifle with shaking hands and aimed at the base of the Yao Guai's neck.

"I'm sorry" she whispered

She shut her eyes tightly as the bullet dug into the flesh of the bear.


	2. Chapter 2

The creature toppled to the ground next to Shelby and went still. Emma's legs buckled underneath her. Tears ran down the sides of her face. She had never killed anything before.

"Is it dead?" A soft voice asked. It was the girl from the two people that she had just saved. Emma had almost for got that they were there.

The teen was crying so hard that she couldn't get a single word out. She turned from them without an answer and shakily got up, running limply towards her friend. Shelby groaned and painfully sat up, holding her bruised face.

Emma stood for a moment, crying a little harder seeing the blurry picture of her best friend.

"A-are y-you alright?" She managed to choke out.

"I-I guess." Shelby said in a sob from pain

Emma's face turned from sorrowful to angry.

"You idiot!" She screeched "Why did you do that? I could have maybe done some thing else than kill it if it wasn't for you!"

"But I just saved your butt!" Shelby retorted "You ungrateful little... Grrrrr... You're always like that! Appreciate me for once!"

Emma dropped to her knees and squeezed her friend so tight that she thought that she may break one of her bones.

"Shelby," She sobbed "I want you to know t-that I really love you and I never want anything to hurt you." Shelby was hugging her, too, now. "You're my best friend and I need you... Don't go running into wild bears anymore!" They laughed slightly, faces still wet and red from tears.

Before another word could be said, Harrison threw himself beside his girlfriend and Snowball bounded up to Emma.

"S-Shelby! A-Are you alright?" He whined loudly, wrapping the redhead in a gentle embrace.

She rested her head on his shoulder "Harry, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Harrison asked concernedly

"I think she'll be alright," Emma put in "I'll check her more thoroughly once we get to a safer place."

"O-Okay" He breathed

Snowball rubbed against Emma's side, whimpering.

"I'm alright, girl." She smiled weakly

Emma turned when she heard light footsteps behind her. When she turned, she saw a dark skinned girl with flowing dark red hair slowly walking closer. After the girl saw her turn, her face twisted in fear.

"I-it's okay," Emma stammered "We won't hurt you."

"Oh... uh... okay!" The girl said awkwardly

A man appeared behind her, placing his hand on the girl's shoulder, he gazed suspiciously but gratefully at the group.

"Thank you for saving our lives," The man's strong voice rang in the trees

"O-Oh... um... I was just doing what I believed was right..." Emma said awkwardly. Looking at Shelby, she added "What _we_ did was right."

"We owe everything to you," added the girl "How can we repay you?"

So many thoughts ran through Emma's head at once, It made her dizzy.

"U-Um well..." Emma stuttered, looking for words, but the last one came out firmly "Nothing."

She looked them in the eye "We were doing what anyone was supposed to do. We don't need payment for that."

 ** _New contest! Name the two people! Also, choose an appearance for the guy. Thank you!_**


	3. Chapter 3

Emma's team trekked aimlessly on dirt paths, not sure what to do otherwise. The two people requested to travel with the group, and they graciously accepted. It was always nice to have more people protecting each other. It also turned out they were a couple. Ariel was a good-looking preppy girl but had and very kind and nurturing personality. She had dark chocolate-colored skin and long, wavy bold red hair completely parted to one side. Shane was an athletic but very muscular olive-skinned male with attractively messy hair and one hazel eye and the other pale green.

 _Ariel Turner and Shane Heights. Two great assets to this team._

They walked some more, finding some bottle caps along the way. The money of the world was pretty useless now, cola bottle caps had replaced it. Carter was the best at finding them, he was very keen of sight. Emma inwardly giggled when he would come up to her with caps. He was so small he looked like a little kid. In a way, she thought of him as a little brother or child or pet, even though he was six months older than her! Flashbacks flooded her mind of when they were younger, when Emma had saved the blonde boy from a bully. And when Carter got hurt on the playground in Kindergarten and she was there to help him...

 _That's when things were better._

Now they lived this horrible torn life, traveling, traveling, traveling...

Emma stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a bloody bunch of matted fur laying in the middle of the path.

 _A cat..._

Something had killed it for sure. Teeth and claw marks along with chunks of missing flesh proved it.

"Whatever killed this may still be around," Emma reported "Be careful and go around it."

When Emma looked closer at the light brown feline, she saw pink bumps on her belly.

 _It was a mother!_

She felt horrible for the tan tabby cat. Shelby and Frances looked like they just had their hearts ripped out of their chest and Ariel was tearing up. They had to get moving.

After about five minutes of walking, Emma heard a small mew. She held up her hand, signaling the group to stop. She heard it again, several in a row. She slowly started walking towards the noise until she was lead to a tree surrounded by bushes on the tree line. Emma bent down and pushed back the branches to reveal a large hole under the tree roots. She reached into the pocket of her dark blue jacket to pull out a flashlight dangling from a key ring. She shown it into the opening to see a heap of different colored furs crawling around.

 _Kittens!_

She counted five of them, a long-haired white one, a short-haired white one with sandy patches, a gray tabby, a longhaired brown tabby, and one that looked just like the adult on on the road except with white paws and a white chest.

 _This must be that cat's kits!_

When the little tan one gazed sorrowfully into Emma's eyes with its blue gaze, and she felt like she was going to cry.

 _They're all alone..._

She stretched out her hand and the tiny kitten rubbed up against her. Emma delicately picked up the kitten by the back of its scruff and placed it on her lap. It rubbed up against her belly and mewed.

"It's okay little one," she whispered "I'll keep you safe."

Emma continued to bring out the kittens until they were all beside her. She placed the two white ones in one pocket of her navy colored cotton jacket and the gray and brown ones in the other. Emma praised the Lord that the pockets were pointed straight up and not slanted so the kits had a better chance of not falling. They were placed tail first, their heads poking out. The last tan kitten was carried in Emma's own hands, meowing. When she returned to her team, they seemed shocked to see the kittens.

"I found these kittens, hungry," she declared "I believe their mother was the killed one we saw earlier. If you accept, I'd like to take them in. I know this sounds odd, but Snowball could be their mother. She always let my kittens crawl on her and sleep beside her." Emma looked out at the small band of young adults. The girls looked as if they would steal them from her pockets and the guys looked okay with it.

"So... Yes?" Most of them nodded. Ariel looked like she was going to send her head flying off by the vigorous way she was moving her head up and down.

"Okay. We need to set up camp somewhere." Emma announced, pushing a leaning kitten back down into her pocket.

"Okay," Shane agreed "I say we get moving."


	4. Chapter 4

"I think this is it." Emma stated, gazing at the small wrecked store standing several feet away.

She looked back at her group and they looked uncertain.

"It will suit us better than sleeping outside," She added "Let's just make sure that no one else is in there. Who wants to go?"

Most of them stayed quiet. "I'll go," Shane offered solemnly "I believe it will be best thing to do."

Emma nodded and looked back at the rest of the group. "I won't force any of you to go." She said gently

She saw Harrison slowly step forward, staring at Shelby.

"I'll do it," He announced "I'll go."

 _He's just trying to impress Shelbs._ She thought with a silent giggle.

"Okay, I think we should probably take a group of three just in case." Emma mused

Her eyes drifted over the remaining four. Ariel and Frances looked terrified. When her gaze met her best friend's, Shelby frowned.

"You know what happened last time." She growled

The last person was the shortest, his short blonde hair sticking up like always. Carter shuffled his feet and took a deep breath at last.

"I guess I'll go." He said shrugging

Even though he seemed cool with it, Emma could tell that he was crazy nervous.

 _I'm worried about him. He's so small... And it would tear me apart if he was badly hurt. Maybe he shouldn't go..._

But when she looked at him, she knew it was a chance for Carter to prove himself.

"Okay," Emma began "You three will go investigate and see if there's a chance we could stay here."

"Yep," Shane said "We better be going in now."

Harrison nodded and they went inside, Harrison and Shane carrying guns.

Emma turned back to the group of girls left over. Shelby, Ariel, Frances and herself. She also looked over to see Snowball and five shapes beside her. The kittens were sleeping, the little tan striped one had crawled onto the dog's white back before she bagan her doze.

 _Aww!_

She focused back on the other girls.

"We'll name them when they wake up." Emma said quietly

A little while after, the three guys returned.

"We didn't see anyone in there," Shane's gruff voice reported "And it seems fit enough to stay here."

"Yah," Harrison agreed "There's plenty of canned food in there to make something... I guess."

"I found some blankets and stuff." Carter said awkwardly

"I think we should all go in," Emma mused "Maybe it can be a temporary base camp."

She went over and gently put the kittens back in her pocket, accidentally waking a couple of them up. Snowball got up shakily and stood by her side. The girl rubbed her hand around the German Shepard's ears and walked steadily towards the abandoned store. Once inside, they split into groups of two and three then started exploring.


	5. Chapter 5

519 Ch5

"I think this one's good, too," Harrison called "It's sliced carrots."

Emma smiled. They were having good luck finding edible canned food. It was just her, Snowball and Harrison. She had chosen her best friend's boyfriend because his family had run a pizza place back in their hometown.

 _Pizza..._

Emma was very hungry and couldn't wait to fix up something to eat from what they were retrieving. The others were helping, too. Shane, Carter and Ariel were sent to find blankets and pillows and whatever else they could sleep with. Shelby and Frances stayed with the kittens as they slept on a porch swing, their main base in the store.

Emma scavenged through the broken and mangled shelves. As her eyes passed over a blue and transparent case, her heart flipped with joy.

"Water!" She screeched, ripping out a crystal clear bottle. She threw off the top and tipped it back, letting a cool, refreshing stream trickle down her throat. In no time at all, she had the plastic bottle empty. It had been a while since they had fresh water and they got very dehydrated.

Emma threw a bottle to Harrison, who caught it very awkwardly and almost dropped it.

He looked up at her "I meant to do that."

She just smiled and rolled her eyes then went searching for a bowl, Snowball needed water, too. Emma found a plastic magenta one after a minute of searching. She brought several bottles and the bowl back to the swing. Shelby and Frances were sitting on the lime green swing striped in white, kittens on their laps.

Emma handed a bottle to each of them, and they gulped it down with delight. Snowball lapped up her bowl and Emma looked at the kittens. The little gray one was sleeping, as he had been constantly. The brown one was wrestling the little tan tabby and the pale ginger splotched sister was hissing at them. The Longhaired white male was sitting with his tail rapped neatly around his paws, watching the others.

"They need names soon." She told her friends "And the others need to come back soon."

So they went through the small store and found Shane and Carter carrying stringy throw blankets and plush pillows, some ripped.

"Good job, small child." Emma giggled and rubbed Carter's blonde hair. He just put on a 'I-hate-my-life' face as he stood there. Emma had knew that he hated her doing that, but she did it anyway.

She turned back to Shane.

"Where's Ariel?" She asked shyly

"Back where she would normally be." He said "The beauty aisle."

Sure enough, they found her rummaging through hair accessories and perfumes. They went back to the swing and Ariel threw a thing of deodorant to each person.

"You best put that on," Ariel sniffed "You all smell bad!"

Then she added: "No offense."

Once they had distributed everything and were settling down, Emma looked at the kittens.

"They need names." She said "And there's enough of them that Frances, Carter and I each get our own, and then Shane and Ariel and Shelby and Harrison get one as to share as couples."

They nodded and Emma pulled the kittens to the middle of the circle that the group was in. The kits mewed and crawled around. So vulnerable. If this world was going to last any longer, the strong must care for the weak. The little light brown tabby was crawling into Emma's lap. It looked up with deep eyes that were changing from blue to green. It mewed again and Emma petted her head.

 _I promise to keep you safe._ She swore silently. _I promise._

"I think that we should name this one Oliver."

Emma looked up to see Ariel eye level with the longhaired white cat. It just sat with its tail curled over its paws and stared back at Ariel, only twitching its whiskers.

"Its a boy, right?" She asked, her nose still almost touching the little cat.

"Yes." Emma smiled "I checked all of them already. That one is male, the white one with the patches is female, the gray tabby is male, the longhaired brown one is a boy and this little tabby is a girl." She said, petting the light brown cat in front of her.

"I'll name this one Scout." Said Shelby, picking up the one with tan spots. She hissed at her.

"Wow, Shelbs" Emma snorted "She's just like you."

"Hey!"

"It's kinda true though," Carter said "I mean, look at you now. But anyways, I want a cat. How about the gray striped one?" He asked looking at the last three kits "I'll name him Stripe."

"Okay. Frances?" Emma turned back to her last friend.

"Well, I guess I'll have the dark brown one." France's said as the Tom walked up to her "But what should I name him?"

Emma looked around.

"How about Bear?" Shelby asked "He is massive."

That was true. The longhaired tabby was the biggest of the litter.

"Okay. I like that name." Frances said contentedly

Emma looked down at the last little kit. She was still in front of her.

"I guess I get you, sweetheart." Emma gently picked her up by the scruff and sat her in her lap. The kitten was a light brown with faker stripes running through her fur like ribbon and her muzzle and paws seemed to be dipped in snow. She was a little beauty.

 _A little beauty..._

"I'll name her Belle." Emma said finally.

She looked contentedly at her group only to realize that Carter and Harrison were missing. Before she could ask any thing, the two boys came around the corner, carrying toy drums.

 _Of course._

Back at their old school, both of them were percussionists. And huge goofballs. They both sat down.

 _That's actually a good idea_.

"Hey, maybe we can sing something to lift our spirits!" Emma mused

She felt a weak punch on her shoulder.

"You know what song I'm thinking." Shelby whispered

"Hey guys! Wanna play our old theme song?"

Everyone had a grin on their face except for Shane and Ariel, for they just looked at each other puzzledly.

"That's okay," Emma said to them "You've probably heard it before."

She looked at her group and then began.

"Let's gather round the campfire and sing our campfire song..."

Shane and Ariel's faces lit up as everyone sang along. By the time the song was done, everyone was smiling and laughing.

 _No matter what's happening, leave it to our group to stay happy._


End file.
